The University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents heard a presentation about sticker-price effects and the benefits of higher education during a meeting Thursday, and a board committee approved requests for facility expansions and land acquisitions for UW.

During the meeting, members listened to a presentation given by Sandy Baum, professor emeritus at Skidmore College, about the cost of college beyond the “sticker-price” and the benefits of higher education.

Baum said college affordability is hard to define because it is not only based on the monetary cost but also on opportunity cost and priorities of a student and their family. Considering the returns, a higher education degree is something most people should not pass up, Baum said. 

“Clearly, it is an investment that people can’t afford not to make,” Baum said.

Baum said the “sticker-price” of higher education, which has increased 5.6 percent over the past decade, is scaring prospective students and their families away from colleges even though financial aid is available to offset the price.

Still, more needs to be done to help lower income students, Baum said. Instead of giving families that can afford to pay for college grant money, the focus should be on providing aid for students who need it.

Regent Bartell asked Baum if she felt more effort should be made to increase financial aid for students from the lowest income percentile.

“Need-based aid is incredibly important, but you don’t need to be poor to need it,” Baum said.

She added institutions should be doing more to help the middle class. 

UW System President Kevin Reilly said the UW System has and will continue to try to keep the price of tuition at a fair and level rate.

“The UW System has made significant efforts to ensure that any tuition increase, the price increase, is moderate and predictable and that we hold the line on the cost for awarding undergraduates,” Reilly said. “Of course, the less the state pays toward the cost, the more the price for parents and students is bound to increase at some level.”

Brandon Busteed, CEO of Outside the Classroom, also addressed the committee about the challenges of alcohol abuse on campuses and the concern it generates for colleges.

Busteed said the binge drinking problem in Wisconsin is especially concerning for colleges, and many students are turning away from colleges because they perceive a college atmosphere that is not serious on campuses with a drinking culture.

Alcohol use on college campuses is something universities should be taking seriously if they want to retain their students, Busteed said. 

The Capital Planning and Budget Committee, within the Board of Regents, also reviewed and approved UW requests for facility expansion and land acquisitions.

The board gave UW permission to enter a lease agreement in Blue Mounds, near New Glarus, that would provide 19,000 square feet of animal holding space.

UW also asked permission to acquire 75 acres of land to expand the UW Research Park II and accept a gift of six acres from the UW Foundation, which would be added on land owned by the UW Arboretum.

David Miller, associate vice president of UW System’s Capital Budget and Planning, said the property would allow 100 companies to move into the area.

An autopsy and pathology suite proposed by the University of Wisconsin and Clinics Authority that would provide facilities for medical and forensic autopsies may also become a reality after the committee approved the proposal.